Carcharodon

King of the North(ish).

Robots of the Ancient World – Mystic Goddess Review

By Carcharodon on May 23, 2021 in Reviews, Psychedelic Rock, 33 comments

“Sometimes a band name conjures a very specific image or reference before you know a single other thing about it. In the case of Portland, Oregon’s Robots of the Ancient World my mind went immediately to the slightly plump and rather ungainly automata portrayed in the distinctly average film, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. That apparently invincible army was sent to devastate humanity in payment for various slights our race committed against elves and the like. Scroll over to reality and another thing apparently sent to devastate humanity, Covid-19, was playing havoc with Robots of the Ancient World, almost ending their sophomore effort, Mystic Goddess, before it properly got off the ground. The five-piece entered the studio to record the follow up to their 2019 debut, Cosmic Riders, only for producer Jack Endino to fall ill, “wrecked from this weird flu from hell,” as Robots guitarist Justin Laubscher puts it.” Infected bongs and olde bots.

Disparaître – Urchig Review

By Carcharodon on May 18, 2021 in Reviews, 37 comments

“I’ve moonlighted as a metal reviewer for a couple of years now and I never cease to be amazed that bands – and black metal bands in particular – seem to have a burning wish not to make it easy for fans and reviewers to find them, nor to find out anything about them. Ok, I get it, you might not want your real name out there. I’ll give you that. So maybe you come up with some sort of creepy-weepy pseudonym to go by and, perhaps, splash the cash on a black cloak, maybe some face paint and. if there’s any change from that, possibly some barbed wire to wrap round a good stick that you can waggle about menacingly. Alright, I can get on board. But then there are bands … or projects, I don’t know, like today’s subject Disparaître, where there’s really very little out there. No proper Bandcamp page, no Facebook page that I can find, obviously no website, and even Metal Archives has nothing beyond a nationality: French.” Socially/sonically distant.

Funeral Fullmoon – Poetry of the Death Poison Review

By Carcharodon on May 17, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 16 comments

“It’s a mere four months since I reviewed Revelation of Evil, the full-length debut from Chilean one-man black metal project Funeral Fullmoon and, frankly, I didn’t expect see him back so soon. Now, part of the reason it’s only been four months is because the January release of Revelation of Evil was in fact a re-issue through Inferna Profundus Records of a cassette-only release from last September, something I discovered about quite late into the writing process. Even allowing for my own failures here, that’s still only an eight-month turnaround from the man currently going by the name Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218.” Vardan the interruption.

Kosmodemonic – Liminal Light Review

By Carcharodon on May 7, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 14 comments

“Sometimes around this place, you pick up a promo and just have a good feeling about. You look at the cover and read the promo blurb and, without even hearing a note, you start to mentally prepare yourself for the tongue lashing Steel Druhm will dish out, as you submit an absurdly high score. In the case of Brooklyn’s Kosmodemonic I was making just these preparations.” Grate expectations.

Body Void – Bury Me Beneath this Rotting Earth Review

By Carcharodon on May 2, 2021 in Reviews, 11 comments

“After recent (and in one case accidental) forays into genres somewhat removed from my traditional hunting grounds – funeral fucking drone and death metal – I am pleased this week to be back in more familiar waters with some sludgy doom. Vermont two-piece, Body Void return with their third full-length, Bury Me Beneath this Rotting Earth.” Cull and void.

Lucifuge – Infernal Power Review

By Carcharodon on April 29, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 28 comments

“When I reviewed Lucifuge’s last effort, The One Great Curse, it was a different age. OK, it was February 2020 but it feels like it was a different age. I remember sitting in riverside bar – indoors, no less – sipping a craft beer, while tapping out my thoughts on what was the third full-length in as many years from this Germany-based four piece. Well, one year (and a global pandemic) on, and Lucifuge is back with fourth offering, Infernal Power.” All the power, 100% less Danzig.

Yer Metal is Olde: Opeth – Blackwater Park

By Carcharodon on April 23, 2021 in Yer Metal Is Olde, Progressive Metal, 147 comments

“There are very few albums that I consider to be 5.0s or, in AMG money, ‘iconic.’ There are even fewer that I can actually picture the moment I first heard. One of those, however, is Blackwater Park. Opeth’s fifth full-length album probably shaped my extreme metal tastes more than any other single record and I cannot believe it is already 20 years old.” Park of the beast.

Endseeker – Mount Carcass Review

By Carcharodon on April 19, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 29 comments

“When I pluck a festering slab of death metal from the fetid pit that is our promo sump – a rare enough occurrence for me – the last thing I expect to be presented with is a political message. No doubt those more learned in the ways of death, will point me in the direction of many a OSDM band that deals in heavy politics but my brain does not connect the genre with current affairs. Hamburg, Germany’s Endseeker, however, do just that on their third record, Mount Carcass.” Death in the news.

Alexander – I Review

By Carcharodon on April 12, 2021 in Reviews, 27 comments

“Every now and again, even I stumble across an album that I struggle to overwrite and, in this case, that is because a terrible mistake was made. I picked up I, the debt by Canadian-German duo Alexander after spotting it, alone and unattended in the promo sump, sporting a funeral doom tag. Only it didn’t say funeral doom, it said funeral drone, something I realized only after the No Takesie Backsie policy had kicked in.” Strong policies, harsh consequences.

Mythic Sunship – Wildfire Review

By Carcharodon on April 6, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, 18 comments

“Given the heavily jazz-influenced psychedelic free-form rock on show from Mythic Sunship, that they borrow part of their moniker from Coltrane’s 1971 Sun Ship. For me, there’s a fine line in avant-garde music—be that jazz, psychedelic rock or even the most progressive forms of black and death metal —between writing something progressive, challenging and interesting, and simply delivering what sounds like a noisy, unstructured jam session committed to record.” Spacey jam.